A few months back I grabbed an armful of juniper branches from the green recycling bin at a Bay Island Bonsai workshop. I’d found both kishu and itoigawa shimapku branches and figured I could use them to make cuttings for grafting roots or branches. Although I’d made cuttings many times before, I wasn’t sure about what […]
Shimpaku
Displaying a shimpaku juniper
Bay Island Bonsai held their 13th Annual Exhibit this past weekend at the Lakeside Garden Center in Oakland, CA. The exhibit featured a well developed shimpaku juniper. Shimpaku juniper Before reading any further, which way do you think the tree points – to the left or to the right? When setting up exhibits, we often start by […]
Shimpaku bonsai on sale at Green Club
Close by the Kokufu bonsai exhibit is the Green Club, home to a massive bonsai vendor area set up to accompany the event. Inside, some spectacular trees are for sale, including the shimpaku below. What makes for good shimpaku bonsai? In addition to age, character, and beauty – general qualities that apply to all bonsai […]
Evaluating bonsai
As we prepared to begin a judging exercise at this month’s Bay Island Bonsai meeting, Morten asked a good question. It was something to the effect of, “Is the highest scoring tree the most valuable tree?” I knew the two were closely related, but had to think for a moment before coming to a conclusion. […]
Penjing
Bay Island Bonsai’s recent exhibit included a penjing display – a rare occurrence for the event. As time passes, I find I’m more concerned with improving the quality of the trees in the exhibit each year – and keeping the event fun. This piece has fun in spades. Penjing with shimpaku Shimpaku Cascade shimpaku Shimpaku island […]